Poultry-feeder.



UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MAX H. HINKLE AND GEORGE E. FRITZ, OF BLACKHAWK, COLORADO.

POULTRY-FEEDER.

To all whom t may concern Be it known that we, MAX H. HINKLE and GEORGE E. FRITZ, citizens of the United States, residing at Blackhawk, in the county of Gilpin and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Poultry-Feeders, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

rlhis invention relates to new and useful improvements in automatic feeders, and more particularly to an apparatus for feeding and exercising poultry, the object of the invention being to provide a device of this character by which the fowl being fed actuates the feeding mechanism by its own weight.

Another object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which will possess advantages in points of efficiency and durability, is inexpensive to manufacture and at the same time is simple in construction and operation.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel features of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, pointed out in the claims, and shown in the accompanying drawings in which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a poultry feeder constructed in accordance with our invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view through the distributing disk.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, l indicates the base members in which the lower ends of the standards 2 are mounted, said standards being suitably secured at their upper ends to the hopper 3 which may be of any suitable size or shape, the bottom of which is formed as an inverted cone 4 provided with an opening through which the feed passes to the distributer 5. The distributer is slightly concave in form and is provided with a plurality of upwardly extending radial blades 6, which are secured to the distributer in any suitable manner. A transverse beam 7 is secured at its ends to the standards 2 and is provided at its central portion with a bearing 8 in which is mounted the lower end of the ver- Specication of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 1, 1912.

Patented July 15, 1913. serial No. 694,500.

. tically disposed shaft 9 upon the upper end of which the distributing disk 5 is mounted.

Arranged between the standards 2 and having its side edges secured thereto is a partition 10 which may be of metal, wood or other suitable material and upon one side of which is mounted an angular bracket- 1l. An actuating lever l2 is pivo-tally mounted at its intermediate portion upon the downwardly extending portion 13 of the bracket 11 and having its ends extending outwardly beyond the outer sides of the standards 2. An operating cord 14 is provided having its ends secured to the lever upon each side of the pivot point and adjacent each end thereof, said cord being passed over the pulleys 15 mounted upon the standards 2 and having its intermediate portion wound upon the vertically disposed shaft 9 so that when weight is applied to either end of the cord, the shaft 9 will be rotated, which in turn will rotate the distributing disk 5. It will be seen that by having the intermediate portion of the cord 14 wound upon the shaft 9 and its ends passing over the pulleys 15 and extending down to the lever 12 that when the weight of a fowl is applied to either end of the lever 12, the shaft 9 will be rotated to dis tribute the feed from the disk 5.

From practical experience with a feeder as above described, we have found that the chicken or fowl will soon learn that by stepping upon either end of the lever 12, the food will be thrown off of the distributer into a position where they can get it, and at the same time the food will be thrown at such a distance that in gathering it up, they must necessarily take the desired exercise to keep them in the best condition for laying eggs. As there is always more or less food upon the top of the distributer, it will attract the attention of the fowl, and in their efforts to get it they will naturally step upon the lever 12, and thereby throw off the food and soon learn how to feed themselves without the care or further attention from their owners.

From the above description taken in connection with the drawings it will be readily apparent that when the weight of a fowl is applied to either end of the lever 12, one end of the cord 14 will be drawn downwardly which will rotate the shaft 9 to distribute the food from the disk 5, and after the lever has beenpressed downwardly at one end the weight of the fowl will have to be applied to the other end before the disk 5 can be rotated.

While we have shown and described the preferred form of our invention it will be obvious that various: changes in the details of construction and in the proportions may be resorted to for successfully carrying our invention into practice without sacrificing any of the novel features or departing from the scope thereof.

What we claim is l. In a device of the class described, the combination of standards, a hopper Secured to the upper ends of said standards, a trans` verse beam arranged between the standards and having its end secured thereto, a vertically disposed shaft rotatably mounted upon said beam, a distributing disk mounted upon the upper end of said shaft, a plate connecting said standards adjacent the lower ends thereof, an actuating lever pivotally mounted at its intermediate portion upon said plate, pulleys mounted upon said standards an'd arranged upon the opposite sides ofthe vertical shaft, and an operating cord having its intermediate portion wound upon said shaft and its ends passed through said pul leys, the ends of said cord extending down wardly and secured to the actuating lever upon the op osite sides of its pivotal point, whereby eitier end of the lever may be moved to rotate the distributing disk and distribute the food therefrom.

2. In a device of the character described,

the combination of base members, upright standards mounted therein, a hopper secured to the upper ends of Said standards, a transverse beam arranged between the standards and having its ends secured thereto, a vertically disposed shaft rotatably mounted upon said beam, a distributing disk mounted upon the upper end of said shaft, a pliarfdif 4 radially disposed blades disposed on said disk, a partition arranged between the standards and having its side edges secured to the standards adjacent the lower ends thereof, an actuating lever pivotally mounted at its intermediate portion upon said partition, pulleys mounted upon said standards and arranged upon opposite sides of the vertical shaft, one of said pulleys being arranged upon its respective standard at a point relatively higher than the other of said pulleys, and an operating cord having its intermediate portion woun'd upon said shaft and its ends passed through said pulleys, and extending downwardly and secured to the actuating lever upon the opposite sides ofA the pivotal point, whereby the weight of a fowl upon either end of the lever will rotate the distributing disk to distribute the food therefrom.

In testimony whereof we hereunto afl'ix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

MAX H. HINKLE. GEORGE. E. FRITZ.

Witnesses:

F. N. JONES, S. EWING.

Copies, of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

